Punk: A guide to an American Subculture - Essay Example

? Punk Fashion Style as a Social Identity Introduction Social identity is the sense of who someone is based on hisor her membership in a certain similar-trait group; or rather, someone’s feeling of worth in the social world. The branding of a collection of people as a group means that there is a common binding factor keeping them together, and every group will differ from the other in its own unique way. Social identity in a group is therefore those unique aspects of it that makes it possible to evaluate a certain group as “them”, and look upon the group that one belongs to as “us”. This discussion will define in detail the punk fashion style to bring out the unique aspects that define and alienate it from just any other group. Punk is a subculture, mostly of youth with the characters of opposing government, hating authority, with extreme unique hairstyles and dressing, they have the hatred of big business, greatly oppose prejudice, amongst other qualities. They advocate most of their ideas through their music, usually created by their punk rock bands. The emergence of this group dates back to the mid to late 1970’s mostly in the United Kingdom and United States, but today exists in most parts of the globe. Just like any other segregation or group, punk depicts strong distinct features that alienate it from any other group mostly in their styles of music, film, visual art, dance, and what this discussion is all about; fashion. Fashion is an umbrella term that covers style or practice preferences mostly in footwear, accessories, make up, clothing, body piercing, fashion, and to some extent furniture amongst others. According to English (2013), the 1970’s and 1980’s saw the emergence of extreme nihilistic fashion that depicted street style clothing, dressing associated with poverty, to express aggression and attract attention. It was during the era when Britain, and the global economy was skydiving, further widening the groove between the rich and the poor. The level of unemployment was very high and young people, especially the uneducated were the hardest hit. This period inspired, and continues to inspire modern punks’ way of dressing; they dress in worn, dirty, tattered clothes. It is also logical that owing to the small size malnourished people, they adopted the trend of wearing tight fitting jeans and clothes in general. Still on the note of dressing, punks consider their dressing as a medium of communication, and incorporate various tactics of doing so. As Kearns (2010), puts it, the punk subculture defines and applies its own intentional and very carefully thought of display codes. These codes have messages that they send out, which usually go against the grain of normal cultures, as they tend to be provocative, vulgar and offensive. In short, their fashion is a voice. The messages most common on the punk’s clothing revolve around Nazism, kinky sex, self-mutilation, political anarchy and other various themes that work to offend or provoke the “outsiders” who in this case are non-punks. Some popular examples include the “destroy shirt” that has the crucifix in an upside down posture with swastikas surrounding it, and the notorious shirt prints of two naked cowboys standing face to face. One of the major identities that punks use to identify themselves is through body modifications. Their body modifications mostly include body markings such as tattooing and writing on it or by piercing various parts of their bodies. Surprisingly enough, some even go to the extent of stretching their ears to achieve weird looks. In deeper punk, permanent and temporary body modifications such as branding, implants, and scarification make their identity and act as cues for artistic expression in addition to demonstrating scene involvement and embracing social difference. To differentiate themselves from the normal piercings, punks pierce unusual body parts such as cheeks or noses and implement crude accessories like safety pins and custom bullring design nose rings. On the note of temporary modifications, punks usually make them as strong as can be to pass messages or portray personal control for the short while that they last (Redhead & Sklar, 2013). In addition to body modifications, punks dramatically change their hair away from the natural or usual societal appearance of it. Owing to the ease of modification and high level of visual stimulation that hair causes, punks employ the weirdest hair modifications by using mostly dyes and funny shaves. For instance, men use extreme dye patterns while women shave their heads clean. To further their dying from the common dying, punks use unnatural colors such as green and blue, in addition to indicating individual innovation, promoting fun and provocatively flouting of convention. Apart from dyeing hair, punks also don dreadlocks and other funky hairstyles and at times integrate their concept of multicolour to create looks unique to their movement only (Redhead & Sklar, 2013). A popular hairstyle associated with the punks is the Mohawk where one shaves their head and leaves a patch of long hair running backwards. In some instances though, instead of shaving their hair they dye it in one color then leave patches of contrasting dyed hair on their heads (Hannon, 2010). Another identity of the punk’s unique fashion is the use of variety of accessories that are flexible, thus enabling them to easily ensemble into their punk identities or strip them off without much bustle. They consider this a simple and inexpensive mode of expressing their punk identity. In some instances, punks use their accessories such as ripped fishnet tights, piercing jewellery, or wallet chains to communicate codes that are only understood by fellow kinship only. A common punk accessory is the small metal studs found in their bracelets, belts, or belts in pyramid shapes that are evolving to metal embellishments, bullets or spikes. Their aim is to take away the delicacy and appeal of decent fashion, and adorn their punk identity as appealing in a rough presentation. Punks or punk movements use specific iconography to identify or represent some of their values. The iconographies they use include logos or emblems that have aesthetic concepts, which punks intentionally use to show what they stand for. For instance is the “X” sign that is usually in a black bold font and appears on their clothes or body markings, and signifies some commitment to the punk fraternity such as abstinence from sex and intoxicants. The Sex Pistols’ logo is designed in a way that it incorporates graphics and fonts that make it look like a ransom note. Concisely, punks prefer graphics or icons with extreme suggestive themes such as danger or death (Hannon, 2010). Iconography is a strong identity in alienating movements or groups from others, as it is illegal to imitate copyrighted icons such as logos or badges associated with another group. A good example is the famous Pirate flag with a skull and bones sign used by sea hijackers in the medieval times. Conclusion From this study, one understands the role of social identity in defining a certain group bound by similar traits. The sense of belonging to a group gives motivation and helps to maintain a positive concept within it, thus cultivating the aspect of self-esteem in the members. It is also evident that there might be several varying aspects of creating in-group identities, most possibly to minimize the likelihood of being likened to another group, or emphasize more on the uniqueness aspect. As it appears in this evaluation of the punks, fashion itself has several aspects that the punks modify to create their uniqueness that includes hair, clothing, body modification, and markings to mention but a few. By so doing, members create a mechanism of identifying members enabling them to pick or favor their own from amidst the majority norms. References English, B. (2013). A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th and 21st Centuries: From Catwalk to Sidewalk. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Hannon, S., M. (2010). Punks: A guide to an American subculture. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press. Kearns, E. (2010, April 7). Subcultural Power. Retrieved from http://fashionandpower.blogspot.com/2010/04/subcultural-power.html Redhead, S., & Sklar, M. (2013). Punk Style. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. Read More